Disneyland and Kendal's Birthday!!!

Wow, again, I have been really slacking! But here I am! For fall break we went out to my mom's in California for Kendal's b-day, and to go to DISNEYLAND! Here we are out front. It kinda looked ugly because they had drained all the water! But we were still happy to be there, as always!
Brian's like, "Can I have at least one pic with the kids?" Haha!

Picture op with Dumbo. We always start out our Disney journey with the Dumbo ride. They've always loved it and surprisingly, still do!

Mama and Karsey.

And for your viewing pleasure......baby butt crack! :)

Then we celebrated Kendal's birthday! She wanted a luau themed party. There were so many great deals at the dollar store for tiki/luau party supplies that I jumped at the chance! I loved her cake and it was delicious as well! Although, we still don't understand how the flourescent pink frosting got tracked all over my mom's carpet!

Kendal with some of her new digs! Thanks to Laura and Jennifer for the cute tutu and hats they made for the girls! It was so fun to see you guys again! Kendal LOVES her tutu.

Keaton making a weird face, that unfortunately, has been inherited from me......

Three sweet hula girls. They were so excited when we were decorating my mother's beautiful backyard and patio. Plants actually are green in California.....sigh.....

Okay, so my mother went a little overboard and bought fish to put in fishbowls as centerpieces for the party! The kids had a blast with them! Thank heavens they didn't come home with us. Sorry, mom!

One of the games at the party (besides the miraculous scavenger hunt!) was a fishing pond. We set up a sheet and had the kids decorate fish to attach to it. I always loved the fishing pond as a kid.

This is backwards, but what else is new with me? This is us on our way up to Cali at mom's favorite rest stop. The kids had fun playing in the ginormous trees that were there. The restroom was creepy though.....can you say powdered soap? Uggghhh!

When Tweenism Rears it's Ugly Head, A Decade too Soon

Imagine my alarm when this greeted me the other day. Be afraid for me, be very very afraid for me!
Because one pose just isn't enough......

Seville Pool: It's Where the Party's At

We figured these were the last days to get in some pool time, so last weekend we set out for the Seville pool. We always have so much fun there, and it was the perfect time to review swimming skills with the kiddos. As you can tell, Karsen was not up for cheesin' it for the camera. (She may also have a mouthful of golfish crackers, I'm not sure.)
When are the fountains gonna come on?.....Ahhhhh!

Looking for hidden treasure in the pirate cave of doom!

Perfect 10.

So this is where the air goes....ohhhh!

Brian and I were cracking up at this. When did Keaton's bathing suit become a parachute? We're not sure, but it sure was funny so we took a picture.

The FHE That Never Was/Friday Night Lights

Sorry, to save time and convenience, this is a combo post folks. So this is "The FHE that never was." I am so sorry to say that there was absolutely no spiritual instruction during this activity. I could've easily tied in themes of prayer, and needing our Father in Heaven to guide us through the challenging episodes in our lives, but alas, I was tired. Like most kids do, they insisted we did "something" as a family!!! So the blindfolded game of finding a bunch of pennies on the floor was born. Hey, they loved it and it took up some time! Shhhhhh! We're sometimes the laziest parents on the planet, but don't let the whole ward know! :)
Last Friday night we rented a bunch of movies and then watched the free Friday Night Lights show outside our window. For some reason, this was a lot of fun! I just love it when Monsoon season lingers!

Is There a Dentist in the House?

Finally, after much debate Keaton's 4th tooth finally met it's maker. Keaton is such a baby sometimes, she'll let a tooth hang by one lonely root until gravity finally takes hold, OR, there's a dentist in the house! Thank heavens grandpa was in town, 'cause nobody was allowed to touch Keaton's tooth. He just gently reached in and set it free. TOTALLY PAINLESSLY!!! She was handsomely compensated the next morning don't you worry....
Ahhh, the remnants of babyhood! :(

Fun Times in Nonna and Papa's Pool

Whooops. Man, it's been quite a while since I've posted. I'm majorly backed up, so here it goes. One of the great things of summer for the kids is swimming in Nonna and Papa's pool! It's been redone recently, so it is a great treat when we can make it down!
Here is Kendal "remembering" how she swam by herself just last summer! Yes, we're gonna need to work on that one!

As always there are many props and toys to have fun with.

CANNONBALL!!!

KOWABUNGA!?!

Kendal and Karsen's first days of preschool!

Yay! Karsen's first day of preschool! She was so excited to actually get to stay at preschool instead of just coming with me to drop Kendal off. Here she is with her cute little backpack. Keaton handed hers down to Kendal, and Kendal handed hers down to Karsen. They are in good shape still and everyone was happy with the switches so I thought, why not? It looks so big on her though! Ha!ha!

Of course the first thing she hit was the dinosaur pile! If you look at the cute little red-head to the right, that's Hunter our old neighbor! So fun that they're in preschool together!

And here's our posing beauty Kendal. She now goes 3 days/week for 2 1/2 hours. Isn't she such a beaut? Ha!ha! I'm a little frightened for the teen age years, heck, I'm scared for the "tween" years with her!

And here are Kendal's FAVORITE shoes of the moment. Her torquoise platforms. (Ey yei yei!) She was drawn immediately to these shoes, so of course, Grandma had to get them for her! They both had fabulous first days! I just don't know how I'm gonna get them there everyday day in and day out! I guess I'll deal....haha.

Um, I made bread!

I can't believe I made clean whole wheat bread with my own two hands! Don't laugh, it's a miracle! :) There is nothing better than fresh baked bread right out of the oven! I finally can do that now. Making this bread conjured up memories of my Grandma Dutson who used to make us fresh baked bread all the time! She'd pull it right from the oven and cut us off a "hunk" with real butter made from her cows on the farm, and honey! This was our FHE; it was a spiritual experience! Ha!ha! It tasted so good and I was so proud that I did it all on my own. I even kneaded it by hand for 10 min.! Talk about working up a sweat in your kitchen. No wonder we're all fat now, we don't do anything! We just go to Wal-Mart and pick up a loaf of bread, no problem. Now, I'm not gonna go all pioneer and all and start only having homemade bread all the time, but now I can say that I did it! Here's the recipe:

Clean Honey Wheat Bread

1 packet active dry yeast

2 c. warm water

1/3 c. honey (or dark molasses)

2T. canola oil

2t. sea salt

51/2- 6 c. whole wheat flour

In mixing bowl place in order given all ingredients except flour. Add flour gradually to make a stiff dough. Knead on well-floured surface until smooth and satiny, 8-10 min. Place in greased bowl. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled, 1 1/2-2 hours (to speed this up I placed in outside, gotta take some advantage of the heat!). Divide in half; shape into balls. Cover with bowl; let rest 15 min. Shape into loaves. Place in well-greased loaf pans. Cover; let rise until light and doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 375 for 30-35 min. or until deep golden brown.

Clean Eating Oatmeal Cookies

I finally had some clean eating success with my dessert of choice this weekend: clean oatmeal cookies! They really hit the spot for a cookie craving I was having this weekend. And instead of bothering my poor husband to take me out to dessert after dinner and a movie, I just came home and had a few of these. By the teaspoonful, they're only 70 cals each and packed with fiber and antioxidants (thanks to the dark chocolate chunks and cranberries).

Clean Eating Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 c. canola oil

1/3 c. + 2T. sucanat (or approx. 1/4 c. agave nectar to taste)

1 egg white

3/4 t. vanilla

3T. water

2 c. old-fashioned (slow cooking) oatmeal

2/3 c. whole wheat flour

1/4 t. sea salt

1/2 t. baking soda

2/3 c. raisins (I did 1/3 c. craisins + 1/3 c. dark chocolate pieces)

1 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350, and grease your cookie sheets. Mix first 5 (wet) ingredients and slowly stir in the dry except add-ins. Fold in add-ins (raisins, crasisins, chocolate, etc.). Drop by teaspoonsful on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 min. (my oven took 12 min.) or until just browned on the bottom. You may have to check the bottoms as these cookies don't look "done" like regular cookies do. These little gems are on only 70 cals, 3.5 grams of fat, 9 carbs, 1 gram protein, and 1 gram fiber (which is good for a cookie!). Enjoy!

Clean Eating Blueberry Crumble

It's time once again for our latest clean-eating recipe. I'm not gonna lie, this one wasn't as impressive or tastey as the banana bread. But....you win some, you lose some! :) I think it was due to a few factors: (Trish or someone else, what do you think?)

1. My granola was too dry?

2. I didn't bake it enough. Or maybe.....

3. I should've put in on the bottom rack of my oven.

See, about 3/4 of the way through the baking, I noticed that the granola was starting to get dark brown on top, so I tried to sort've rearrange the granola on top so it wouldn't burn. But then I got so anxious that I just pulled it out! The granola was practically starting to catch on fire! So the blueberries weren't quite cooked through, and the granola was WAAAAY over just toasty, the arrowroot effect had definitely not kicked in b/c it was way too watery (as you'll see in the pics). I really want this to work out. Maybe some of you talented baking experts could help me out!

Here's the recipe (I have heard nothing but good things about this recipe, btw, that's why I'm convinced it's something I did wrong.)

Blueberry Crumble

6 c. blueberries

1/8-1/4 c. sucanat or honey

1 T. arrowroot powder (thickener)

4T. water

2-3 c. granola or muesli

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place berries in a deep oven-proof baking dish or in individual baking dishes. In a small bowl mix water and arrowroot powder thoroughly. Stir in honey or sugar and pour over the blueberries. Top with granola. Bake uncovered for 30-40 min.

Keaton's First Day of Second Grade!!!

Well, the day has finally arrived. Our Keaton is in 2nd grade! I just can't believe it. Seems like just yesterday she was going to preschool, and now this? It's enough to make a proud mama cry. Here's Keaton before we walked her to her first day of school. I don't care, I love uniforms!
Keaton and our neighbor Lilly. They are in the same class this year, Mrs. Johnston's class!

Keaton is a nerd like me and chose to sit in the front. Mrs. Johnston actually let them choose their own seats! She's nicer than I was as a teacher, that's for sure!

Of course Keaton and Lilly had to sit next to each other. I really feel like it's going to be a great year for Keaton. Good luck Keaton, we're thinking of you! Hope you're having a great first day!

Pioneer Day Celebration

We had so much fun at the ward Pioneer Day Celebration! We went to Goodwill and tried to find some pioneerish type dresses! This was the best we could do! They had so many fun things to do like watermelon seed spitting contests, go fish, bean bag throw, stick pull, tug o'war, and a pie bake off (that was my favorite part!). The girls even made their own bonnets out of paper plates and tissue paper. At the end, Brian got to pull the head chariot for the parade. All the kids of the ward got to decorate their bikes and ride in it. I would've gotten shots of it, but my card was reading FULL! So much fun!